vi, 345 pages : 24 cm

Since the house was the physical meeting place for early Christian communities until about the end of the second century, in a very real sense investigation of Roman household life is of paramount significance for the study of early Christianity. In addition to considering a wide range of textual evidence from the New Testament, early church writings, and Roman and Jewish sources, the book aims to take account of Roman archaeological evidence for housing and discusses the importance of issues of space and visibility in shaping the lives of early Christian women. Several aspects of women's everyday existence will be investigated, including the lives of wives, widows, women and children, female slaves, women as patrons, household leaders, and teachers

Includes bibliographical references (pages 309-330) and indexes

Dutiful and less than dutiful wives -- Giving birth : labor, nursing, and care of infants in house-church communities -- Growing up in house-church communities -- Female slaves : twice vulnerable -- Ephesians 5 and the politics of marriage -- Women leaders of households and Christian assemblies -- Women leaders in family funerary banquets / Janet H. Tulloch -- Women patrons in the life of house churches -- Women as agents of expansion -- Conclusion: discovering a woman's place

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